Pluto in Capricorn – Healing the Psyche

As Pluto moves through Capricorn (2008-2024) what needs to change?

Part of what needs to change involves looking at that which we don’t want to look. We need to learn to face that which we don’t want to face. To acknowledge and embrace our fears. The shadow side that we are terrified will destroy, consume, or take us over must be something which we welcome into our consciousness. Trying to hide or run from a part of our consciousness will not make us strong; this is what divides our personalities and societies.

What is it that we fear? Is it dying, loss (of wealth, home, livelihood, possessions, family), disability, rape, murder, violence or war? Or is it disasters, nature, the unknown, other people, ourselves, ridicule, dis-ease, failure, authority, power, disempowerment, embarrassment, old age or weakness?

There is so much to fear. There are so many responses to fear. One is escapism through means such as the use of alcohol or drugs or the creation of a fantasy world. Another response is to become that which we fear – an oppressor or controller. None of these responses is that of facing our fear, of owning our fear. To own your fear is to be able to mentally, emotionally, and at times physically, face your fear in a calm and rational way. This is so the power of the fear can lessen its hold on the psyche.

That which is – is balanced by that which is not. Light is balanced by dark. Noise by silence. The feminine by the masculine. The yin by the yang. The positive by the negative. The high by the low. The contrast of opposites is the interplay between the “this” and the “that” and the shades in between. Form comes from the formless and the formed eventually returns to its origins.

To heal the psyche of humanity requires a meeting, a mediation, a discovery of the midway point between the extremes. The eastern part of our consciousness is that of receptivity and passivity, the western half that of expression and activity. Neither side of our consciousness is complete without the other. The eastern is communal, group and tribally orientated. The western is self and individually orientated. One half is impersonal, the other personal. When we consider only the impersonal (eastern) no personal growth can occur. When we consider only the personal (western) no communal growth can occur. The personal without a firm foundation and returning to the impersonal is a recipe for disaster.

To transform the world (Pluto in Capricorn) we must start from the seed, the ground of consciousness, the personal, the “I” (Aries). From self awareness and examination it is possible to reach out to an understanding of the other (Libra). Hence we have reached a consideration of one of the axis’ of the cardinal cross. When we consider our other challenges we realise we need to master our worldly responsibilities to society (Capricorn) and our personal responsibilities to our human family (Cancer).

As the apex of the cardinal cross, Capricorn represents the fruition of the initial Arian beginning. Capricorn is a conclusion to the premise that Aries originally proposed. As Pluto in Aries represented the proposed transformation of the individual; this proposition was modified as Pluto moved through the other zodiacal signs. Hence (from the Arian viewpoint) Pluto in Cancer was the transformation of the individual in the familial context. Pluto in Libra was the transformation of the self through relationship to others. Pluto in Capricorn represents the transformation of the self into the global I: we, us, everybody in practical service to the all. None of us exist alone. It is the global family that will be a major theme as Pluto moves through Capricorn.